Kelly Orlando, Ph.D., new assistant biology professor

Posted on Dec 14, 2012

Kelly Orlando, Ph.D., has joined Immaculata University as an assistant professor in the Biology Department. She is currently teaching classes on microbiology, human anatomy and physiology and genetics.

A resident of Secane, PA, Dr. Orlando received her doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she went on to become a postdoctoral research fellow. She was most recently a postdoctoral fellow in Villanova University’s Department of Biology. She has experience teaching laboratory and lecture courses such as cell and molecular biology, and advanced cell biology. She has also mentored students and guided their directed research.

Dr. Orlando has presented her research at meetings for various scientific associations, such as the American Society for Cell Biology and the Genetics Society of America. She has co-authored articles that appeared in publications such as The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and Experimental Cell Research. Dr. Orlando’s research covers a range of subjects, including the establishment and maintenance of cell polarity and the evolutionary conservation of genes across species.

“I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to teach at Immaculata,” commented Dr. Orlando. “I get to work with a truly wonderful group of people—and I don’t just mean my colleagues in the Biology Department (who have been amazing!), but members of the Immaculata ‘family,’ from administration to support staff. The Immaculata students themselves have impressed me not only by their academic excellence but their ability to handle their busy course loads with schedules filled with sports, jobs, and extracurricular and volunteer activities. As a biology teacher I get a chance to teach students whose goals are to go into various health-related professions, and the passion these students have for their future profession fills me with hope and pride.

“I am also grateful for the opportunity to apply for and receive an OSR [Office of Sponsored Research] mini-grant to help fund research projects I am working on with a few undergraduates,” Dr. Orlando added. “My own undergraduate research experience was what inspired me so many years ago, and I hope to be able to pay it forward with my own students at Immaculata in the years to come!”